Yuga Labs Files New Lawsuit Against Ryder Ripps

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Yuga Labs, the digital asset incubation studio and the team behind the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible token collection, has filed a new lawsuit against digital artist Ryder Ripps and his team. This time around, Yuga Labs demands roughly $1.7 million that Ripps made from his controversial RR/BAYC NFT project.

Yuga Labs requests $1,589,455 of @ryder_ripps and @Pauly0x RR/BAYC’s profits and $200,000 in statutory damages, new court documents released yesterday show. Thoughts? 👇 pic.twitter.com/lNujtl6wM6

— OKHotshot (@NFTherder) July 18, 2023

Established in 2021, Yuga Labs is home to many non-fungible token collections, including Bored Ape Kennel Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Otherdeed for Otherside, Koda, HV-MTL, Sewer Pass and Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. The digital asset firm also owns the intellectual property for CryptoPunks and Meebits.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club creator filed its first lawsuit against the digital artist and investor Ryder Ripps and his team in mid-last year, accusing them of trademark infringement. Yuga Labs accused Ryder Ripps of selling a parallel NFTs collection, “RR/BAYC,” that seemed identical to its Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.

Launched in 2022, RR/BAYC was an NFT collection featuring a limited edition of 10,000 NFTs hosted on the Ethereum network. The NFT collection featured dog skull-themed NFTs, similar to Bored Ape Yacht Club. There is a total of 6,900 NFTs minted, held by 2,964 unique owners.

Earlier this year, John F. Walter, the U.S. District Judge of Central California, ruled in Yuga’s favour on its first cause of action for “false designation of origin” and its third cause of action for “cybersquatting.” In his ruling, Walter ruled that Ryder Ripps and his fellow founder Cahen violated the Lenham Act of 1946, which clearly stipulates the primary federal trademark statute in the United States.

The federal law forbids trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising. In his defence, Ripps claimed that the RR/BAYC NFTs were a form of appropriation art meant not to undermine BAYC, adding that he believed them to be threaded with alt-right, Neo-Nazi dog whistles and imagery.

In his final decision, the Judge ruled that the defendants knew that their RR/BAYC NFTs were likely to be confused with Yuga’s BAYC NFTs and that at least some purchasers of their RR/BAYC NFTs would have difficulty identifying the RR/BAYC NFTs as a different and distinct product from Yuga’s BAYC NFTs.

At the time, Ryder Ripps vowed to appeal the ruling. While commenting about the ruling, a representative of Yuga Labs described the ruling as a landmark legal victory for web3. No information was shared on whether Ryder Ripps and his legal team filed an appeal on this case.

Yuga Labs Demands $1.5M From RR/BAYC Profit

Despite winning its landmark legal case against Ryder Ripps, Yuga Labs has not left the case there, and it’s now demanding to receive the lion’s share of all the profit made from RR/BAYC NFT sales and damages incurred during the trading season.

Through its legal arm “Fenwick and West LLP,” Yuga Labs has requested the court to award it $1,589,455 profit made from RR/BAYC sale and 200,000 in statutory damages and any interest. Yuga Labs has also requested the court to grant its injunctive relief request.